Wilson NFL Authentic Footballs - The Duke

Coached for several years of football at high school. I love the break in process of footballs. I take extra pride when I see my kids spinning a ball I broke in for them. It's fun.TL;DR - It's Real. It's made of REAL leather. They are made in the US in Ohio. They are hand made and thus defects are expected. Break in can be complicated or easy. Do not get this if you want to throw in streets or parking lots.The Duke is the real deal. From this desk I probably have a line of sight to 15 footballs of various kinds. Most of them are wilson, I think actually 2 are not.. maybe just 1. I even have a football sitting here that I designed custom panels for. Fun stuff.You're going to have to take my word that this is the NFL game ball in all things but the fact the NFL has a few little things that do not effect the ball at all. Even a chip on the inside that some of the balls you get from Wilson can have.Yes, you will see the seams to not come to a perfect + sign at the ends, that's because this isn't to be worn, it's to throw and kick and get muddy. They are ALL made by hand, you will never get perfection of millions of items made by a human. And we want that because it makes the balls tougher and made better.Wilson GST is the high school and college ball. Very few differences there unless you really know what you're looking for it's not worth my time to list the difference besides the obvious laces and white stripes of rubber. The leather is identical except for the dye they put on the balls.As a genuine leather ball "harder" is a common phrase because the leather isn't beaten in yet. Once the leather softens and begins to break in it feels softer than my wallet of leather (real too). You will see strings from the seams some times. They're common and it's not some defective thing, again, a football not a jacket here.If you have a ball that has a barcode on it IT IS NOT A REAL BALL, it's a toy or backyard ball, but it isn't the ones you will find being played anywhere above the 5th grade level. If you look at the leather of the ball the bumps, dimples, whatever textural term you want to use, you will see W's marked all over the ball. The laces at the top are also leather. Rather hard on the NFL ball but on the GST (not reviewed here) they are black and rubber.If the ball is stamped ANYTHING but made in the USA (right under the wilson logo on the "National Football League" side not the logo side) it is fake. Everything is burn stamped in. I don't know how else to put that. The only weird thing on the ball texture is the shield logo itself. Makes not effect on the ball and dang is it durable. I never have to ignore it when scrubbing hoping the logo doesn't rub off.These boys are made right down the road from me in Ada Ohio. I need to go there so bad because I'm such an equipment nerd. Helmets everywhere too.Break in is extremely personal to the human throwing the ball. I said THROWING. If it's your personal ball break it in however you want. If it's for a team, tell the receivers to stop talking and only ask the QB. The ball will eventually break in naturally and do what it does, the break in process ONLY accelerates the process (and adds a cool darker brown tone). Remember this is a LEATHER ball and thus will act like it. Get it too wet and your ball is dead. Also, don't use this on anything that isn't a turf or grass field. It will be extremely unforgiving when it scratches and the leather rips ever much each time it hits the ground. It begins to become like suede. No grip on it at all.I could go on for hours, but that was a good little rant.

Football is fantastic. Perfect size for my kids and same as the Peewee flag football size. Nice feel to it and wasn't expensive.

I had ordered this for my grandson's birthday and he loved it and they play with it constantly and it's held up very well

The real Deal football for the real football fan. 😀

EXCELLENT!!Never thought I would find these again for such a good price.I bought one in Dec. for my dog. It took weeks for delivery. She loves it. Her favorite toy. But she is rough on it. I wanted spares. But they were never in stock. I was redirected to full size gold footballs....no thanks.Then a few days ago my wife checked. And they had them again!!We bought as many as we're allowed at once. We bought four.It is weird. I gave the dog full size leather footballs and she just rips them apart.But she doesn't destroy this mini one. Yeah she has removed the laces. But she hasn't popped it even though she easily could.She pops the large ones no problem.It's a great toy for her. She loves the unpredictability of the bounces. She gets bored with tennis balls.

The quality is very good! No odor, the children have been playing with it.

It’s official size….good enough for throwing 50 yard passes

It’s a football. Looks great, is functional but the bladder/valve do not survive well in the humid heat of Bangkok.